Daily Archives: February 15, 2020

You’d think after all these years of clinical trial participation I would have this thing completely figured out. But no.

When I spoke to Alice yesterday I asked her if we would get some results from the lung biopsy on Monday. Post procedure it was explained to me that enough tissue had been successfully removed for the trial requirements, but that they weren’t able to get any extra. At the time (still groggy from the sedative) I wasn’t even sure what this meant.

If you recall, I had a biopsy on lorlatinib where there was an attempt to get extra tissue so that Alice could determine my mechanisms of resistance. Our sample came up empty and she asked the sponsor of the trial if they would be willing to share some of their (my) tissue with us. It cracked me up at the time (and infuriated me) that we had to even ask for my tissue. MY TISSUE. But I also didn’t understand how endemic this was.

Anyway, the answer to my question was that we were unlikely to get any results back from my biopsy (the first of two that are required). And this is when I finally understood that there is a big difference between a biopsy that is for research purposes and one that is for the clinical benefit of the patient.

What is the same is this. It is my tissue, my time, my insurance that is billed for the procedure. My risk, considered high with an intrathoracic procedure.

In other words, this (a biopsy) is something I am doing just for the good of science. Willingly, as I signed the protocol. However, it would not be difficult to argue that I feel coerced by both my imminent demise and the lack of potential treatment options.

For those of you who wonder how I can be grateful for the opportunity to participate in trials (beats the alternative) but also angry, well, here you have it.

Tell me what is fair about requiring me to undergo an invasive procedure, pay for it (billed to insurance), undertake extra risk and potential expense–I have often had a pneumothorax following a biospy, which meant a night in the big house), and to do so simply in a spirit of altruism.

Fucking A. If biopsies are required, then there should be some quid pro quo here. Results should be shared with me and better yet, there should be an emphasis on finding clinically relevant information. If this is not the height of bullshittery in clinical trials, I don’t know what is.

And as it turns out, ASCO agrees with me. Somewhat tepidly, but for their viewpoint on research biopsies, click here.